Madison — In a last-minute set of changes to the state budget, Assembly Republican leaders plan to boost school voucher programs, remove a proposed cap on a property tax credit for disabled veterans and allow new rules to keep protesters away from the site of a proposed mine.

Also under a draft of the amendment that is still being finished, an additional $5.3 million in state taxpayer money would be funneled into the program that allows students to attend religious and other private schools at taxpayer expense in eastern Racine County. That change would allow some students who are attending private schools at their own expense to use taxpayer money in the future if their school is enrolled in the voucher program.

The changes would bring another 750 students into that program, according to projections from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The program is based in the home county of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), a longtime voucher proponent who was instrumental in establishing the Racine program two years ago.

Another change would let parents stay in a proposed statewide voucher program even if their incomes rise above the limit for entering the program. To enter the program, parents would need to make 185% of the federal poverty level or less. It would also allow families when first enrolling to exceed the threshold by $7,000 if the couple were married.

The amendment would also include a provision to let the Department of Natural Resources establish rules that would keep protesters of a proposed massive open pit mine in northern Wisconsin off the land where the mining company is doing exploratory drilling. It was unclear whether the still-unreleased change might affect other similar lands where the public currently has access for hunting, fishing and hiking.

The move is in response to a recent incident at the mine site that the company has described as "eco-terrorism."

"I just hope and pray that DNR gets it in high gear frankly before someone gets shot up there," said Rep. Mark Honadel (R-South Milwaukee). "It's just out of control. This cannot escalate past what it is now."

A spokesman for Gogebic Taconite, developer of the proposed mine, said up to a dozen protesters have been camping out on the property without permission.

Bob Seitz, the spokesman and a lobbyist for Gogebic, said the protesters are walking on the property and yelling threatening comments to workers.

Without some method to bar intruders, he said, hikers could instantly become vandals and disrupt operations as opponents did in the incident that occurred last week.

But Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) said before seeing the final proposal that he was concerned about how Republicans might respond to the situation.

"They're overreacting to the illegal actions of a few who haven't been seen or heard from since," Jauch said.

On June 12, protesters caused an estimated $2,000 damage to equipment and threatened workers and contractors involved in preliminary work on the mine. Iron County authorities say they expect to make arrests in the matter.

Gogebic is proposing a $1.5 billion iron ore mine that opponents contend would threaten the Bad River watershed, which flows into Lake Superior.

Other moves would:

■ Nix changes to the veterans property tax credit that would have capped it at $2,500 a year for disabled veterans and the surviving spouses of veterans. Republicans faced criticism from veterans groups about the change. That would be an $18.8 million hit to the state budget over the next two years, according to the fiscal bureau.

■ Exempt legislators next year from having to abide by a state law that prevents them from passing bills that spend money if projected state expenses exceed projected revenue.

■ Provide a property tax exemption for a housing facility at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Madison. A similar provision approved by Democrats in 2009 for the Pres House, a student housing facility owned by a religious organization, has drawn criticism.

■ Change a provision allowing police and firefighters to live outside local boundaries, such as the city of Milwaukee, to ensure it doesn't affect volunteer firefighters.

■ Prevent local governments from establishing fees or setting regulations for real estate brokers, leaving that issue to the state.

■ Delay until July 1, 2014, the start of a controversial provision making it easier to site a high-capacity well. Vos said that would provide time for lawmakers to revise the language in the budget.

If implemented, the provision would bar people from challenging construction of a well if a regulator decided not to consider cumulative environmental effects of the well on others. It could affect the outcome of a legal case involving a proposed $35 million dairy farm in Adams County, whose permit application has been challenged in court and is also under administrative review by the state Department of Natural Resources.

■ Remove a provision that would have prevented local governments from setting storm-water standards more stringent than the state's. Local governments would still not be able to set erosion control standards higher than the state, however.

Outlines of budget

Republicans who control the Legislature had already agreed to the outlines of the $68 billion, two-year state budget, which would cut income taxes, allow voucher schools across the state, and reject a federally funded expansion of state health programs under the federal Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

In the past, Assembly debates on the budget often went late into the night. Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement this time to debate the budget over two days, taking a break Tuesday night. But the budget debate never got off the ground Tuesday as Republicans worked on their amendment.

Instead, they now plan to debate the budget from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. It would then go to the Senate, which like the Assembly is controlled by Republicans.

"We will be ending at 5:30 no matter what," said Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford).

Vos said he believed the amendment unveiled late Tuesday would be the only one both the Assembly and Senate would adopt.

But Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said late Tuesday afternoon that negotiations were ongoing. Asked if the two houses had a budget deal, Fitzgerald said, "Not yet — I wish."

Amid Tuesday's negotiations, Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison) told leaders from both parties he was considering becoming an independent but hadn't made up his mind. Hulsey declined to discuss the matter.

Funding flaw found

Also this week, an independent analysis identified a potential multimillion-dollar funding hole in the state's welfare-to-work program.

Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee assumed that participation would decline by 1% a month in Wisconsin Works, also known as W-2. But new data from the state Department of Children and Families shows enrollment in the program instead increased in April and May, according to a report by the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.

That could spell a budget shortfall of as much as $36.9 million over the next two years, according to the analysis. Even if enrollment drops 1% a month from now on, the state would face a $14.7 million shortfall because enrollment is starting at a higher level than the Joint Finance Committee assumed when it adopted the budget two weeks ago.

Joe Scialfa, communications director for the Department of Children and Families, said in a statement that it is too early to know if the projections are accurate.

A work program for poor, unemployed people, W-2 is largely federally funded.

The budget crafted by Walker and GOP lawmakers would sweep through many parts of Wisconsin life by legalizing bounty hunters; loosening residency rules for city and school workers; giving the governor's administration the power to sell most state assets; requiring the able-bodied to work for food stamps; and requiring DNA to be collected from felony suspects when they are arrested, rather than convicted.

Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel staff in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

About Patrick Marley

Patrick Marley covers state government and state politics. He is the author, with Journal Sentinel reporter Jason Stein, of "More Than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions and the Fight for Wisconsin.”